Netherlands Radio Choir / Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Choir under the direction of Chief Conductor Karina Canellakis invite you to join them on an intimate sound experience rich in contrasts. The programme takes us through the cycle of life and the great questions that confront us in the course of our sojourn on this planet. At the age of 22, Pierre Boulez composed his cantata “Le soleil des eaux”; it was at the same age that Boulez’ teacher Olivier Messiaen wrote his first orchestral work “Les offrandes oubliées”. The two young composers strike out on their pioneering metaphysical path through new worlds of sound – now lyrically floating, now forcefully. For his part, Sergei Rachmaninoff has his feet on the ground in his last composition as he looks back at his past life almost with nostalgia: triumphal exultation and threatening undertones, the nimble feet of a dancer and the brooding weight of symphonic writing – in his “Symphonic Dances”, Rachmaninoff summons up a galaxy of the highlights that enrich life on earth.

Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992)
Les offrandes oubliées (1930)

Pierre Boulez (1925 – 2016)
Le soleil des eaux  (1948/65)
for soprano, choir and orchestra

Robin de Raaff (*1968)
L’Azur (2025)
Cantata for choir and orchestra
on the poem by Stéphane Mallarmé
German premiere
Commissioned by Lucerne Festival 2025 (financed through The Pierre Boulez Foundation) in coproduction and co-financed by the NTR ZaterdagMatinee

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943)
Symphonic Dances op. 45 (1940)

Liv Redpath – soprano

Netherlands Radio Choir
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Karina Canellakis – conductor
Benjamin Goodson – choir master